


it’s ooky spooky time, everybody

by RogueArcher



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Acxa & Keith (Voltron) are Siblings, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Gay Keith (Voltron), Halloween, I Had No Idea What I Was Doing, M/M, Mentions of Monsters & Mana, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Swearing, brief mentions of alcohol, halloween party, idiotic gays, the obligatory halloween fic we all need, this is so dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 17:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15868422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueArcher/pseuds/RogueArcher
Summary: Keith is so not coming to the Halloween party without a costume on! This is blasphemy!or, Keith and Lance are being useless gays and Shiro is tired of it.or, the halloween fic that nobody asked for





	it’s ooky spooky time, everybody

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea what i was doing. i reiterate, this is so stupid. and gay. involving gays being stupid.
> 
> also, yes, yes it is september first, and yes i am already thinking about halloween.
> 
> enjoy

“What the hell are you supposed to be?”

 

“Disappointed,” Lance deadpans, not bothering to move aside as Keith shoves his way past him and into his apartment. He lets the door swing shut before whirling around to face the Halloween letdown.

 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, complete with a long heave, Lance walks after him into _his_ kitchen. “Keith, where’s your costume?” he whines.

 

“I don’t have one,” he answers nonchalantly as if he _didn’t_ just commit the _biggest Halloween sin._ The dark haired boy reaches over for one of Hunk’s infamous ‘Monsterous Cupcakes’. Lance is quick to slap his hand away, grabbing the platter and sliding it across the counter where Keith couldn’t reach over with his grubby little hands.

 

“ _Uh uh._ Cupcakes are only for _costume-wearing_ individuals.”

 

 _“Lance,”_ Keith growls, eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. His eyes dart towards the cupcakes again. Lance narrows his eyes, hovering protectively over the delicious treats. The two eye each other warily before Keith takes his shot, darting forward and snatching one up. Lance is too slow to stop him.

 

Oh, _fuck no_ was Keith getting a cupcake!

 

(Especially before Lance got to have one. Everyone knows he was the first to try one of Hunk’s delicious creations!)

 

Lance darts around the island, yelling out a battle cry and leaping forward, jumping onto Keith’s back before he could bite down on the cupcake. He isn’t prepared for the sudden attack, knees giving out and sending the two crashing to the ground. The two grunt and yell, the cupcake flying out of Keith’s grip and sliding across the wooden floor. The frosting is still in pristine condition, sitting in a spot basked in the orange sunlight flooding in from the open window. The two are locked in a battle of shoving and kicking, Keith attempting to shake Lance off his back while Lance tries to shove Keith away from the frosted treat.

 

“Lance, get off of me!”

 

“You’re not getting that cupcake!”

 

“ _Why_ are you making such a big deal about this?” Keith tries to buck Lance off of him, who in turn grips his arms around his narrow waist, clinging for dear life.

 

“Because it’s Halloween and you’re not in a costume!”

 

“ _So_?!”

 

“ _So,_ you can’t go to a Halloween party _without_ a costume!” Lance grips onto the back of Keith’s shirt, trying to climb over his withering form. He puts his other hand on the crown of Keith’s head and tries to shove him backwards.

 

“You’re so annoying!”

 

“ _I’m_ the annoying one?!”

 

“ _Yes!”_

 

“Just _get off!”_

 

“ _What_ are you two _doing_?” The pair look up in shock, unaware of the door opening and closing in all their commotion. Hunk is standing over them, hands on his hips and his lips twisted like that of an angered mother. Pidge stands a few feet behind him, hands on her knees and long ponytail blocking her face, cackling.

 

It dawns on Lance how they must look— hair mused, limbs tangled and askew, him _straddling Keith._ He quickly shoves the shorter boy aside, rolling off of him and stumbling onto his feet.

 

Keith snatches up the untouched cupcake before following suit, straightening up much more gracefully than Lance.

 

Lance scowls, throwing himself back over at Keith and trying to reach for the cupcake. Keith gets on his toes, moving the cupcake into his other hand and stretching his arm up in the air. Lance presses himself to Keith, leaning over and trying to grab at it. Keith swivels his body, keeping the purple cupcake out of Lance’s grip, and places his hand over Lance’s face, trying to shove him away.

 

Another arm reaches out while they’re distracted (again) and plucks it from Keith’s grasp. Hunk frowns at the two of them, wagging the treat in front of them both in disapprovement.

 

“ _Nobody_ eats before the party starts, understand?”

 

“But _Hunk—!”_

 

“I said, do you understand?”

 

Keith finally pushes Lance away, crossing his arms and glaring at the floor. He grunts in agreement.

 

 _“Yes, Hunk.”_ Lance pouts, before glaring over at Keith again. This was all _his_ fault! If only he’d worn a costume like he was _supposed to_ , none of this would’ve been happening.

 

Hunk nods in satisfaction, grumbling under his breath as he goes to carefully put the cupcake back. Pidge hops over to them, a large, shit-eating grin across her face. Her circular glasses are slipping down her face, but she pays them no mind. “Sucks to suck,” she tells them, a lilt to her voice.

 

“That goes for you too!” A shout from the kitchen cuts in. Keith smirks at Pidge as her grin quickly drops.

 

“What? Hunk!” She protests, running towards the kitchen to try and change his mind. Lance sticks out his tongue at her as she veers into the other room.

* * *

 

It takes twenty minutes of arguing — and Hunk finally threatening to revoke _all_ sweets privileges until Thanksgiving — for Pidge to give up in her quest to change his mind. She sulks on the kitchen stool, shooting daggers at Keith and Lance whenever one of them so much as steps near her.

 

“ _Alright_ ,” Hunk claps his hands together. “We’ve only got two hours to prepare for this party!”

 

His troops sit, slumped over, in front of him. Well, two of the three. Pidge, still distraught over not getting her cupcake, and Keith who… just always looks like that. Lance was bouncing in his seat, eyes gleaming, full of energy. He’d been talking about throwing a Halloween party since _July_.

 

“I have to finish baking everything by then. Pidge, you’re in charge of setting up the other snacks. Keith, you’re in charge of setting up the living room and helping Lance with decorations. Matt already texted me saying he’s on his way with the fog machine and booze.

 

“Rendezvous back here at quarter to six. Move out!”

 

The three of them jump out of their seats, rushing to work as Hunk shouts behind them to “Go! Go! Go!”

* * *

 

 

“What are you _doing_?”

 

Lance looks up from his spot on the floor to see Keith towering over him, eyebrow raised inquisitively. He lifts up a part of the tangled skeleton lights sprawled across his lap and all around him. “Untangling lights.”

 

Keith shifts from foot to foot, “Need, you know,” he waves awkwardly towards Lance. “Any help?”

 

The Cuban boy shrugs, “Sure.”

 

He wasn’t about to admit that he’d been working on them for a good half hour, and was _this_ close to rage quitting. This was also the last time Hunk was _ever_ allowed to put any decorations away. He may be a whiz at engineering and cooking, but he had no future in organizing or packing.

 

(Oh, _dios_ _mio._ What do the _Christmas lights_ look like?!)

 

“How’s setting up going?” Lance breaks the silence as Keith sits down across from him, picking up another section of lights.

 

“Pretty good, though Hunk yelled at me for leaving the coffee table in front of the television. And Pidge for, quote unquote, ‘setting up the snacks wrong.’”

 

Lance snickers. “Yeah. He gets like a total mom when it comes to having guests over. He screamed at me for two hours this morning to clean my room and _then_ , when I wasn’t about to cut my beauty sleep down because _hello,_ it takes _work_ to look this good,” he waved his hand towards his face. “He barged in with the vacuum! _The vacuum, Keith!_ ”

 

Keith’s shoulders shake. He’s biting down on his lips to keep from laughing out loud at Lance’s look of indignation.

 

“Hey! It’s not funny, mister!” Lance can’t help the smile curving its way across his face as Keith ducks his head. Keith finally breaks, soft laughter passing his lips at Lance’s mock-offended tone.

 

Lance begins to giggle himself, his laugh steadily growing louder as he remembered this morning. He’d jumped from his bed when his door slammed against the wall. Hunk burst in wearing his yellow bathroom and yellow lion slippers Lance bought him because they matched his own blue pair

 

(“ _Hunk,_ we’re _slipper twinsies!”)_

 

and half his hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. Lance almost called him mamá when he snapped at him to get out of bed and put on some clothes.

 

“Hey!” The man himself appears in the doorway. His hair’s pulled up in a bun at the top of his head, strands falling out of it, and his white and yellow cupcake apron on. Purple and green frosting is streaked across the front of it as well as his cheek. He wags a finger at them. “No time for fun! We’re on a time crunch here, people! Get back to work!”

 

“Aye-aye!” Lance salutes at him, smiling innocently. Hunk looks between the two of them for another moment, giving them the ‘i’m-watching-you’ gesture, before ducking out of the doorframe and back into the kitchen.

 

A moment passes and the two turn back to each other. Lance snorts, and the two are set off again into fits of laughter. Keith throws his head back, eyes shut. Lance watches him, a warm and fluttery feeling in his stomach.

 

Keith has a nice laugh.

* * *

 

“You never did tell me what you are.”

 

“Huh?” Lance grunts, peering down at Keith who’s holding the ladder steady while he hangs the _finally distangled_ lights around the living room.

 

He had to admit, Keith did a nice job, pushing the couches off to the sides of the room, leaving the middle of the room big and empty. The television’s pushed off into the corner, their speakers already on either side of the tv stand. The two long tables are stretched out against the wall across from them, a black tablecloth with spider webs and bats and pumpkins on it already laid out on top. A few bowls of different types of chips and other party snacks litter the top including a large bowl of (inevitably spiked) punch. He’d even taped different colored plastic over the strobe lights so when they turned them on, they’d be all sorts of different Halloween-y colors.

 

“Your costume,” Keith nods at him. “What are you?”

 

“Wha—,” Lance glances down at himself. “You really didn’t guess who I am?”

 

“No?”

 

“I—,” Lance suddenly has to swallow down a bout of embarrassment. “I’m, uh, Hiccup?”

 

Keith still looks confused.

 

Lance just wants the ground to open up from under him and swallow him up. “Um, from _How to Train Your Dragon?_ It’s this animated movie from a few years ago. The third movie is coming out next year,” he babbles. “It’s this movie about this boy, Hiccup, from this viking tribe. And he’s like, the weakling of the tribe, a total nerd, nothing special about him, right? And so anyway, vikings hate dragons ‘cause they’re always causing trouble — stealing sheep and stuff like that —“ Lance peeks back over at Keith, who’s still watching him with apt attention. “And, uh, _basically,_ Hiccup finds this dragon and is going to kill it, right? To prove himself to everyone. But he can’t do it, and then he ends up befriending the dragon, and yeah. That’s basically what happens,” he rushes to wrap up, feeling warm under his long sleeve green shirt and brown (faux! no animals were harmed in the making of this costume!) fur vest.

 

“Cool,” is all Keith says. Lance wants to die.

 

“Let’s just finish hanging up these lights.”

* * *

 

 

Hunk inhales deeply as he opens up the oven, breathing in the smell of fresh brownies. Grabbing his oven mitts, he pulls the batch out and places them on top of the stove to cool.

 

The countertops are covered with different types of halloween-themed treats from cupcakes to brownies to cookies to cookie _pizza_ and ice cream sandwiches. Once they were all frosted and decorated, he’d begun to put them on different types of stands. His cupcakes were bunched together on two matching silver skeleton cake stands and he placed his ice cream sandwiches in a small cooler decorated with fake cobwebs and small disks attached to the lid and bottom inside corners that serves as small fog machines him and Pidge built together. The cookies were all perched on top of a halloween tree stand he didn’t even _know_ they had!

 

“Hunk!”

 

He whirls around at the sound of a panicked voice. Lance’s bouncing on his toes on the other side of the island.

 

Immediately Hunk’s panic alarms start to go off in his head. “What? What is it?!” He asks, palms itchy as an anxious feeling of dread began to pool in his stomach.

 

Lance groans, hiding his head in his hands. His words come out unintelligible.

 

“Lance? Lance, I can’t understand you. What is it?” Hunk rounds the counter towards his friend, pulling his hands from his face.

 

“I made a total _idiot_ of myself in front of Keith!” Lance hisses out, peeking behind him to make sure the raven haired boy wasn’t anywhere by them.

 

Hunk’s panic fades into a faint annoyance. He thought something bad had happened! But no, it’s just his best buddy being a gay disaster.

 

Sigh. They don’t have _time_ for this.

 

Hunk loves Lance, he does really. But he had the tendency to… blow things out of proportion. He was, and Hunk says this in the nicest way possible, a bit of a drama queen.

 

“Lance, buddy, look at me.”

 

Lance glances up at him. Hunk tries to give him a reassuring smile, it was edged with some stress but that couldn’t be helped. _Time. Crunch._ He didn’t plan to deal with some gay (well, bi is more appropriate) panic during this time.

 

“Breath in for four seconds, m’kay?”

 

Lance nods, inhaling.

 

“Hold for seven,” Hunk instructs patiently.

 

Lance does so, keeping his eyes on his friend.

 

“Now exhale for eight. Through your mouth!” Lance always forgot that part.

 

Lance exhales slowly until all the air is out of his lungs.

 

“Are you feeling better?”

 

“Yeah,” he nods.

 

“Good. You’re just overthinking, buddy. Keith doesn’t think you’re an idiot or that your costume is dumb or anything, you hear me? That’s what this is about, right?”

 

Lance nods again, looking sheepish. “Yeah.”

 

Sometimes it paid to know Lance better than he knew himself.

 

“Alright,” Hunk pats him on the shoulder before glancing towards the clock. “Shiro, Adam, Allura, and Romelle are all coming in twenty minutes. Matt’s setting up the machine now. How are the decorations going?”

 

“We’re almost finished.”

 

“Good. Go finish them up. I just need to ice these brownies before I put everything on the table. Pidge finish up?”

 

“Mmhmm, she’s changing in the bathroom.”

 

Hunk nods, even with their minor blip, everything was going according to schedule. He turns back towards the oven to check if the brownies were cool. Lance’s soft footsteps begin to pad back towards the living room.

 

“Lance?”

 

“...Yeah?”

 

“Put the cookie back.”

 

Hunk smiles to himself at the sounds of his friend stomping back into the room to put the cookie back in its original spot before grumbling and walking back out.

  
Yeah, it _definitely_ paid to know Lance better than himself.

* * *

 

 

At six o’ eight, the doorbell rings. They hear the distant sounds of the door opening and Shiro and Adam calling out a “Happy Halloween!” Keith is about to move into the hallway to greet his brother when he feels Lance’s hand on his arm, tugging him backwards into his bedroom.

 

“What?”

 

“You’re not going to the party without a costume,” Lance insists.

 

Keith barely restrains from groaning, tugging his arm away and rolling his eyes. He thought they were over this stupid argument. “Lance—”

 

The other boy is quick to cut him off, waving his hands in front of him. “Wait, wait. Just hear me out!” Lance holds out a finger, telling him to stay put, before darting towards his closet. He throws the door open, shuffling through it for a moment before backing out, a bundle of sheets in his arms. “You can go as a ghost!” He chirps.

 

Keith eyes him and the white sheets dubiously. They’re covered in a neat pattern of little blue rocket ships.

 

Lance mistakes the look etched upon his face. He sighs, “Look, it’s a lame costume but it’s better than going out there in your jeans and t-shirt. It’s _something_ at least. Unless you want to try and squeeze into my spiderman costume from last year. _Oh,_ you can wear my shark onesie!”

 

“Pass,” Keith’s lips curl up. “Lance, they’re covered in _rocket ships_.”

 

“You’ll be a space ghost.”

 

Keith heaves a sigh. Why was this his life? “Fine,” he grunts out, grabbing the bundle of sheets from Lance’s arms. They smell exactly like Lance. A small voice in the back of his head nags him, saying he doesn’t have to wear anything. He could refuse and avoid looking like a total idiot in front of all their friends.

 

He tells the voice to kindly shut the fuck up.

 

“Do you have any scissors?”

 

Lance frowns in confusion. “Yeah, why?”

 

He lifts the armful of sheets. “To cut eyeholes.”

 

“You’re not cutting my sheets!” Lance’s eyes widen in panic.

  
“Lance,” Keith sighs. “I need to be able to _see_. What do you expect me to do?”

* * *

 

 

Keith bites down on a curse as he bumps into yet another person. “Sorry,” he mumbles, shuffling away. His ears burn as he hears footsteps moving away and soft giggling.

 

An hour later, the party is in full swing and he already just wants to go home, slump down on the couch, and binge watch all those conspiracy theory documentaries on his _Watch Later_ playlist.

 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.

 

“And stop! Do you want anything to eat? You can have that cupcake now if you want. Hunk even wrote your name on the paper cup!” Lance’s voice shouts over the music, letting go of Keith’s wrist finally.

 

Hunk was a god amongst mankind.

 

Keith reaches out with his arms blindly, feeling for the hem of the sheet to tug it up and over his head. It rests on the back of his neck and over his arms like a stupid cloak.

 

Lance squawks in protest. _“Keith,_ you can’t just _take off_ your costume!”

 

Keith huffs, giving him a look as he reaches for the cupcake from earlier on. “I can’t see, I can’t move, and I’m dying from heat under there. Besides, how am I supposed to eat with it on, genius?”

 

“Did somebody call for me?” Pidge pops out of nowhere, large grin on her face the only part of her face that was visible under the large brim of her witch hat. She tilts her head back until they could see the rest of her face. Her hat looks like it’s made of satin, deep green in color until it almost appeared black unless in the light, with gold accents. Her dress was the same design, with loose sleeves that hung over her hands. The golden rim of her glasses glint in the lights, her pale face bathed in a mix of auburn and gold.

 

She turns towards Keith, letting out a bark of laughter at his ‘costume’. “I told you to dress up,” she smugly informs him, reaching past the two of them for a giant sugar cookie decorated like a pumpkin. She takes a bite, her teeth stained with orange frosting when she shoots them both another smile.

 

Keith makes a mental note to avoid the sugar cookies.

 

“Shut up,” he grumbles, reaching for a brownie. Lance has the same idea, and their hands bump into each other as they reach for the same one. The sensation was like rubbing feet along a shaggy carpet and then touching a doorknob. Lance immediately pulls his hand away like he’s been burned. The two lock wide eyes for a moment before Keith adverts his eyes, clearing his throat awkwardly.

 

Pidge glances between them, a gleeful look in her eyes. She cackles, bidding them goodbye and vanishing back into the crowd.

 

“I—” Keith looks up quickly as Lance’s voice cuts through the silence. “I gotta go find, uh, A-Allura. Told her I’d help her ask Romelle to dance. Bye.” In a blink, Lance was gone.

 

Keith scowls down at the punch bowl. It was a smiling pumpkin. It took all his self restraint — and the mental picture of Hunk’s crumpled face — not to tip it over.

 

“Hey, Keith!”

 

He looks up to see Shiro ambling his way over, smiling widely with a cup of punch in his hands.

 

“I was wondering where you were.”

 

Keith’s mood momentarily lifts to give his pseudo brother a small smile and a quick hug.

 

“Yeah, Lance has been dragging me all over the party— Shut _up,_ it’s not like that,” he hisses, catching sight of the look on Shiro’s face. “He’s been acting weird all night. And _no_ , I don’t want to talk about it.”

 

Shiro held his hands up in defense. “I said nothing,” he chuckles when Keith lightly punches his arm. Lightly for _Keith_ that is.

 

“You still thought it,” Keith looks down at his punch before looking back up at him, taking notice of his costume for the first time. He groans. “You didn’t _seriously_ come as your Monsters and Mana character, did you?”

 

“Allura and I planned it a few weeks back.”

 

“Aren’t couples supposed to, like, wear matching costumes or something?” He raises his eyebrow.

 

“Allura wanted to ask Romelle but didn’t know how to. She chickened out and asked me instead. And Adam didn’t mind. And what are…” He trails off, looking his younger brother up and down in confusion. “You supposed to be?”

 

Keith heaves a sigh, setting his not yet unwrapped cupcake down on the table. He grabs the bunched up sheet around his shoulders, covering his face with the soft fabric again. Spreading his arms, pointedly ignoring Shiro’s sniggering, he unenthusiastically announces, “I’m a ghost. Boo.”

 

“ _Very_ nice,” Shiro coughs, trying to recompose himself as Keith lifts the sheet back over his face again. “I’m loving the rocket ships. Really brings some originality to your costume.”

 

“Fuck off,” Keith grabs his cupcake again, unwrapping it and taking an angry bite. He pretends it’s his brother’s stupid face with his stupid all knowing expression on it. “Lance insisted on it.”

 

“What’d Lance come as?”

 

He shrugs, “Some character from some movie.”

 

He manages to evade looking into Shiro’s eyes for a few moments before sighing and giving in.

 

“Hiccup from _How to Train Your—“_

 

“ _How to Train Your Dragon_? That’s such a great movie. We watched it a few months back when he was helping me out with moving into Adam’s place. We even watched _Rise of the Guardians_ , which you seriously need to see. You know, he said he actually ships Hiccup and Ja—”

 

An immediate feeling of impending doom slams into Keith when Shiro’s expression changes. His eyes lit up and his easygoing smile fades into a mischievous smirk.

 

(It was almost scary how much it resembles the look that Pidge and Matt get when they’re planning… _stuff_.

 

Scratch that. It was downright terrifying.)

 

“Keith.”

 

“...What?”

 

“You’re going to thank me at the end of the night.”

  
“What? Wh— _Ah_!”

 

* * *

 

“Never have I ever… flirted my way out of a speeding ticket.”

 

Nyma was the first to drink, followed by Romelle and surprisingly, Shay.

 

“Okay, _you,_ I’m not surprised by,” Allura waved her hand at Nyma in dismissal. “But _you two?_ ”

 

Lance nods from his seat next to her, leaning forward in his seat as he looked between the two giggling and slightly tipsy (he called it, _someone_ spiked the punch. He was fairly sure it was Rolo.) girls.

 

“Okay, okay,” Romelle waves her hands in the air. “So I was sixteen, right? And I’d just gotten my learner’s permit. Bandor and I were home alone for a weekend and I had money and we were hungry. So I said I’d go grab us some burgers. I went, got Mcdonald’s, and a dozen donuts because, in my defense, it was right there and I just _had_ to—“

 

“You _just_ _had to_?” Allura laughs. Romelle sticks out her tongue. “Shush, you.”

 

“So, anyway, I’m driving back when all of a sudden I hear sirens behind me. I pull over and this cop walks up to my window. Here I am, _freaking_ out ‘cause my parents had always told me not to go driving on my own since shit like this would happen, but I manage to calm down by the time he reaches me. I roll down my window and I’m like, ‘hello, officer’, he’s like, ’do you know how fast you were going, blah blah blah’ and then he frowns at me. ‘Hey, how old are you?’ I’m just like, ‘fuck’ at this point and I tell him eighteen. He just _stares_ at me and asks to see i.d.

 

“ _Obviously_ I can’t show him since I already told him I’m eighteen. So, I did what my instincts told me to do—“

 

Lance snorts, “Your _instincts_ told you to _flirt with him_?”

 

“No!” Romelle flips her hair over her shoulder. “They told me to offer him a donut and when that failed _then_ I flirted with him. He bought it, I got a cop’s number, and I was home free.”

 

“He gave you his _number?_ How old was he?” Allura cries out, blinking in shock and what a Lance had to say is awe and a hint of jealousy.

 

“I don’t know. Like, mid twenties?”

 

“Do you still have it?” Nyma chitters in excitement.

 

“Always carry it around in my wallet,” Romelle announces proudly. “Just in case I need to call up my good ol’ cop buddy to get me out of trouble!”

 

Lance sniggers into his cup.

 

Shay lets out a puff of laughter. “My story definitely isn’t as good as yours,” she says.

 

“Pfft,” Romelle waves her comment off playfully. “So what happened to you?”

 

“Well I definitely didn’t get any cop’s phone number,” the small group titters in amusement. “It was actually last month. I was on my way to Hunk’s,” Shay bites her bottom lip, spinning one of her bouncy curls around her finger. “I guess I was going a little fast since I was in a hurry and this cop pulls me over. I need to go so I kind of just.. _sweet talk_ him into letting me go.”

 

Lance lets out an over exaggerated gasp. “ _Shay_ ! Don’t tell me you got pulled over on your way to your _first date_ with my best buddy!”

 

She glances down at her lap. The whole group breaks out in hysterics.

 

“Shay!”

 

“Oh my god, you _didn’t!”_

 

“ _Iconic_!” Romelle claps.

 

Once they manage to settle down a little, Allura looks around, confused. “Where did Hunk go?”

 

“He said he had to use the bathroom, but he’s been gone a while,” Lance frowns, craning his neck to try and catch sight of him.

 

“I saw him disappear somewhere with Shiro,” Shay shrugs.

 

“ _Ohh,_ I’d watch out for him, Shay. We all know what a flirt Shiro is,” Nyma snickers.

  
“Oh please,” Romelle laughs. “He’s too wrapped up in Adam to try anything with anyone. Keith told me this one story when him and Adam _first_ got together…”

* * *

 

 

Admittedly, Lance’s feeling a bit guilty over abandoning Keith a few hours ago. It was just… things were getting _weird_ and _he_ was getting weird and Keith looked like he was going to _say_ something and Lance just had to get out of there. Take a short break to calm down before starting over again.

 

But then Nyma had caught his arm and swung him around, leading him in the direction of the gaggle of girls (and Hunk) sitting on the couch.

 

Nyma’s a pretty girl, her hair braided into cornrows falling down her back. She’s a few shades lighter than Allura, with patches of skin lightened from vitiligo and a curvy yet slim figure. The crown of her head was a light brown with the mane of her hair bleached blonde. She usually had her hair back in some type of braids. When Lance first met her during freshman orientation, he was admittedly swept away by her. Then he found out she had a girlfriend at the time — (The two of them have since broken up, he never met her, she attends another school nearby supposedly.) — and besides that _,_ Nyma and Matt have always had this _thing_ going on he didn’t want to interfere in.

 

Plus, the first time they met she pickpocketed him, but they’d since moved on from that.

 

It felt appropriate that she arrived to the party dressed as a pirate. Nyma had even winked at him when she walked past him and Keith earlier, telling him to watch his wallet.

 

“Never have I ever had a crush on my best friend,” the devil herself speaks up, breaking Lance from his thoughts. Shay chugs first, not a surprise considering Hunk confided in him that he was her first friend once she moved out of her family home for college. She’d been homeschooled her entire life until this year.

 

Allura hesitates before bringing the rim of her cup to her lips. Her cheeks are dusted with pink as she avoids Romelle’s surprised look.

 

Another _not_ surprise (for literally everybody except Allura), Romelle takes a sip as well. The two lock eyes, and Lance averts his, feeling like he stepped into something personal. Slowly, he brings his cup to his lips to take a sip while Nyma and Shay are caught up watching the love fest go down.

 

“D-do you want to dance?” Romelle stutters out. Allura flushes and nods, jumping to her feet. She reaches out, tugging Romelle up from her seat and towards the large space where people were currently dancing to ‘ _Monster Mash_ ’.

 

“Where’s Matt? He owes me ten bucks,” Nyma cheers as the three of them unapologetically watch the two girls fumble around before they find their rhythm. Really it was just Romelle fumbling about. The girl was _no_ dancer — not that she minded — but even lesser so in the long gown she adorned.

 

“You bet on them?” Shay’s eyebrows rose in amusement.

 

“I bet that Romelle would get her shit together and ask Allura out first.”

 

“What do you get in reward, a kiss?”

 

He takes pride in how fast Nyma’s ears tint red. “ _Fuck off,_ Lance. Don’t you have to go track down your boyfriend?” Then she swings her legs over the back of the couch and is gone.

 

“Keith’s _not_ my boyfriend,” he protests hotly, eyes swinging to face Shay, the only other one of their little group left. She has the kindness not to tell him how absolutely desperate he looks.

 

“I know,” she answers simply. Lance nods once in affirmation, hunching down and about to take another sip of his punch when Shay suddenly announces that she’s going to go find Hunk. She’s already been swallowed up by the crowd when Lance looks back up.

 

“Lance?”

 

He whirls around at the familiar voice, an apology on his lips when his brain finally processes what he’s seeing.

 

“ _Keith?!_ ”

 

He blinks once — twice — to make sure he isn’t hallucinating. But no, gone is Keith’s shitty last minute sheet ghost.

 

Keith shuffles in place. “It, uh, it was Shiro’s idea. He had white hair spray in his car from his costume an—”

 

“Is that my hoodie?” He blurts out.

 

Keith’s shoulders slide up to his ears. “Yeah. Hunk got it,” he awkwardly explains, eyes darting across the floor before meeting Lance’s for a moment and darting back away.

 

“You’re Jack Frost.”

 

“I am.”

 

“You’re a _cute_ Jack Frost.”

 

Wait. Shit.

 

Keith blinks at him in surprise. “I am?”

 

“I didn’t mean that,” Lance rushes to say. Wait, _fuck_ that sounded bad. “No, I mean. I _did_ mean that, but I didn’t mean to say it out loud. I mean, not that I think you’re _cute_ , I just mean, _fuck._ You, uh, you- you make a better Jack Frost than you do a sheet ghost?”

 

_Dios mío, por favor, mátalo ahora._

 

“You-” Keith stills for a moment, looking like he was preparing himself for something. He clears his throat. “Do you want to, ya know, dance?” He manages to meet Lance’s eyes for the majority of the question.

 

“Yeah,” Lance says too quickly before mentally slapping himself. “Yes. Definitely.”

 

“Cool.”

 

“ _Coool_.”

 

The two shuffle over to the dance floor, awkwardly moving around each other before the current song fades.

 

“Alright, I expect to see _everyone_ out on the dance floor for this song!” Rolo shouts. He was deejaying for the night apparently. Everyone screams when the opening to ‘ _Thriller’_ fills the apartment.

 

“Ready, Frost?”

 

“Oh, I was _born_ ready, _Haddock_.”

 

Lance blinks at him before letting out a small laugh of disbelief, relaxing. “So you _have_ seen the movie!”

 

“Not yet, maybe we can watch it together? _Rise of the Guardians_ too. I’ve heard it was a good movie,” Keith offers him a shy smile.

  
Lance’s only grows. “ _Hell yeah!”_

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t until later when Shiro makes his reappearance.

“Keith,” he calls out. His brother whirls around, raising an eyebrow in confusion as he walks over. Keith’s forehead sheens with sweat. They’d been dancing for so long, he’d pulled away for a quick break to rest his feet and grab a drink.

“Where’ve _you_ been?”

“Unimportant. You ready to thank me yet?”

“No.”

Keith was just starting to worry about his brother’s mental state — more so than usual — when Shiro’s smile brightens. He was ready to go find Adam when Shiro _cackles._

(Who was he, _Pidge?_ )

“Ohh, you will,” Shiro promises, winking at him and presenting something in his hand to his brother. It was… a stick.

Keith gives him an unimpressed look. “Shiro, what the fuck.”

“It’s Jack’s prop. His staff from the movie,” he explains, handing it over. Keith takes it warily, looking it up and down. It could’ve passed for one of those shepard sticks with the exception of the details of frost, similar to the hoodie’s, running up and down the length of it.

“Where did you even get this?”

  
Shiro waves his question off. “Unimportant. What is important is what you’re going to do with it.” He tugs Keith to him, bending down and murmuring in his ear. 

* * *

 

 

 

“No, no, no. You’re doing it all wrong!” Pidge cries out, shoving Lance out of the way. “ _This_ is how you do the robot.”

 

Lance scoffs, “There’s no one way to do the robot!”

 

“Uh, _yeah,_ there is,” the young girl retorts. “It’s called the _right_ way.”

 

Lance rolls his eyes, tearing his eyes away from his friend to look around. Keith had vanished a while ago, saying he was going to grab a drink.

 

“Hey,” he shouts to be heard over the music. “Have you seen Keith?”

 

“Nope!” Pidge yells back.

 

“I’m gonna go find him!”

 

“Later, lover boy!”

 

Lance gives her the finger before shoving his way out of the crowd of sweaty and moving bodies.

 

First he stumbles towards the table where the food and drinks were laid out, no Keith. He frowns, turning and making his way over to where they had been playing ‘never have i ever’. No Keith, but Keith’s sister and Plaxum-from-English were heavily making out on the couch.

 

Lance’s quick to veer away from the two, wandering deeper into the apartment. Acxa was scarier than Keith when she got pissed off. She was normally so chill and level-headed, not flying off the handle as quickly as her half-brother. But when she’s pushed to that point? It’s best to run.

 

“Keith? Keith!” Already Lance could feel his palms going sweaty. Shit. _Shit._ He’d thought they were having a great time, dancing and laughing and maybe even flirting? Did he say something? Did he mess up somehow? Did Keith get swept up by some other much cooler, way hotter, grizzled guy? Probably. They were probably out of here already, making out or something.

 

Lance yelps, breaking out of his thoughts when something suddenly wraps around his waist. He looks down — is that a stick? —  and is suddenly being tugged backwards. He twists his body around, crashing into somebody’s chest. What the…?

 

“Keith?”

 

“Lance,” Keith answers, voice breathless. They’re nose to nose. One of Keith’s hands is on Lance’s waist, the other clutching the staff currently wrapped around his torso. He can feel Keith’s breath on his face. Before Lance can get any other words out, Keith is leaning over, and suddenly they’re kissing.

 

They’re _kissing._

 

Keith’s lips taste exactly like vanilla frosting. Lance reaches up, loosely throwing his arms around Keith’s neck and deepening the kiss. He barely hears Adam laughing in the background and Nyma’s obnoxious cheers and whistles. The apartment vibrates with Rihanna’s _‘Disturbia’._

 

Eventually the two have to pull away for this little thing called oxygen. Keith’s hair is a mess and he looks flustered at the attention they’ve gathered. Lance leans down, murmuring in his ear, “Wanna get out of here? I have two movies I’m sure you’ll love to see downloaded on my laptop.”

 

Keith laughs, “Lead the way.”

 

Lance excitedly grabs his hand, tugging him towards the hallway to his bedroom. As they pass by Shiro and Adam, who were comfortably wrapped up in one another, gently swaying side by side in their own little world, Keith pauses long enough to meet his brother’s eyes.

 

“Thanks, Shiro,” he smiles, before Lance begins tugging impatiently on his hand again and the two go running off again.

 

“Someone was off playing Cupid tonight,” Adam comments, tilting his head back to look at his boyfriend. Shiro merely gives him a small peck on his lips, grinning down at him.

 

“Those two never would have figured it out on their own. Did you really want to deal with them dancing around each other for another year?”

 

“ _God, no._ They were bad enough already. I still can’t believe Keith asked me if ‘grabbing a dinner and a movie’ was something ‘bros’ did,” the other man shudders. Shiro snorts, remembering Adam pacing around their bedroom, ranting about what an _idiot_ his brother was. He didn’t disagree.

 

“So can you forgive me for running off all night?”

 

“Mmm, maybe if you grade all those papers I have waiting for me.”

 

Shiro scoffs, “You wish.”

 

“Well,” Adam sighs, pressing a kiss against Shiro’s jaw. “I’m sure I’ll come up with _some_ way you can make it up to me.” The two share identical grins.

 

“Meet you in the car in fifteen?”

 

“Make it ten.”


End file.
